Bobby cracks a pretty good joke

i signed-in to this account to note that because i believe it is noteworthy.

Love, Yourselves

An unlistenable AUD of this show circulated for decades and was what we had - until now. It doesn't stand out above a few dozen others '72s - nor is it near the best of this run - but it has that elusive sound.

First Set. Average for '72, starting with a decent Bertha (run into a bar room). The 2015 subscriber Disc oddly adds the patter from end of Chinatown Shuffle (which was played 6 of the 7 nights). Brown Eyed Women, in the early Bobby version w/out the solo workout, works better with this kind of interplay. China Cat is uptempo, and listen to Bobby - he does some really interesting things. The PA burps during Me & Bobby McGee. It always astounds me that Jer had something different every night for Mr. Charlie. He transposes down one octave on a dime @1:40 and check how he answers Bobby @2:20. That's what drives me crazy about mssr. Garcia. Bobby is out of tune for Looks Like Rain and Jer is on Pedal. The tempo is too slow and you can hear Jer ask to pick it up - ironic considering how slow it could be in other years. Deal is a little off and then trainwrecks. It's definitely time for Pig to shake things up. Donna comes out (the 4th time ever) for Playing in the Band. But is she the one playing the güiro? Pig? I dunno! It's a full-on, heated version. Leave them stunned.

Second Set. This half starts above average, peaks at a fine Ramble and El Paso then becomes average '72 fare. Big Boss Man is a nice, long version. When Jer starts doodling Spring Song, Bobby just launches an El Paso. Jer then gets all up in this shit, playing echo-y fills to fill univeral corners. Pig is on top of his game for a decent Good Lovin' but the rest don't particularly gel. Donna wasn't coming out yet for Sugar Magnolia - nor does Bobby do his '72 croaks.

1st Set:   B-
2nd Set: C+
Overall = 3 Stars

Highlights:
China Cat Sunflower>I Know Youu Rider - listen to everybody, but listen to Bobby
Mr. Charlie - Pig good and Jer does something unusual
Playing in the Band - heated
El Paso - Jer in Bobby's face - stolen from you

SOURCES: The 132366.sbd.miller is the best upgrade ever made of this show. The 135871.sbd.miller.flac48 is mastered beyond the range of human hearing, so in practice it's a mirror of the 132366. Five tracks are on the 2015 Dave's Bonus Disc. Playin' is on Dick's #30.

It was great seeing shows here. Perfect for the S.F invasion to get a nice funky taste even funkier than Fillmore East. Saw a few shows from this run. Mr.McKernan (if you will excuse the pun) had the crowd in his pocket. This show smoked from beginning to end. High energy Bertha to kick things off with.Some new tunes such as BTW sonded like they had been playing it for a few years. Cool Cumberland and ROR. No D.S or OO but that's okay. Pig had 1/2 dozen songs to sing - I sear Boss Man had to be written for him. Don't forget the stand alone Dark Star from 3/23. Mixed reviews but unique in it's own way and I always dug it. Pig also sang "Next Time you See Me" a time or two and every time he got to the line "...Ya' lied,cheated the whole crowd would join in on uh oh -for so long..." Great times all those years ago.

I will review this as if it is the Dead's last check of their sound before they role off to Europe.
When viewed from said perspective what we find here is the Grateful Dead looking in.
Let's play some of the tunes we are bringing overseas. And instead of doing that in some lifeless N.Y.C. studio let's do it Academy of Music for our fans.
With this clean Soundboard you can pick up on the banter. And it is very funny. The band is loose. Jerry is singing so hard he is overpowering his microphone during Bertha, B.E. Woman, RIDER
They open up saying "Hi ya kids" which I had thought was from the Spectrum show in the 80's.
Bertha-very tight, amazing vocals, uncluttered.
B.T.W- Not much jam but moxy from Weir.
Shuffle-Very nice, someone says"That's Dragging"
and I think Garcia says. "Your dragging"
Paris has a great version of this tune.
China>Rider- Nice ,no frills, this would become a consistent highlight of Europe tour.
Me & Bobby-potato chip crunches in the mix but Weir and harmonies good.
Mr. Charlie-This is Pig with the band at their most danceable- in my mind,actually dancing, widening counter clockwise circles
Looks Like Rain= "The colors of this song are blue and red"blue for ? , red for blood
"Here comes the rain!!!"
A strong DEAL, Hurts me TOO= Pure Blues!
Cumberland, Jerry instructing on how fast to play. They settle on very snappy. Adagio
Playin-11 minutes, straight ahead and cookin.
First tune where I hear Donna.
Jam comes in around 3:20.
Garcia leading the charge.
and this is end of Set One

Set Two
Greatest Story-nice choice for set 2 opener.
This tune has such a raw felling to it
Donna's vocals help and of course Garcia blazes!
BOB-"Donna and Keith, they are our new additions"
Ramble on Rose- A tune budding just in time for Europe. Listen to the ensemble singing!
"take you to the leader of the band"
Big Boss Man-Pigpen goes into Europe in good form.
Nice version with a good bluesy jam tucked in.
Pig breaks out the harp! When Jerry broke this tune out in the later years it felt very somber this is very danceable.
I am going to call El Paso from the tuning. Me thinks, Yes that's it. You know on tour it was great to be able to pick out a tune in a few notes. It would have made a great game show.
"I can name that Dead tune in ONE NOTE"
Also loved Bob's comment in the first set about tuning preceding music by a few minutes!!!
Strong El Paso. Bob being very deliberate with the lyrics. Band engaged with the tune. Garcia playing some trippy notes in there.
Good Lovin-How does Billy manage to sound like an entire drum core starting this tune.
I love this with Pigpen. Bobby really did sit at Ron's feet with this because when Weir broke this out he somehow managed to capture the pure joy of this tune.
You meat and potatoes guys , this is your meat and potatoes! perhaps it's not a five course meal but if you listen to GOOD Lovin they jam hot in between Pig's raps. "evil ways about her, she cut me every way but loose"
Pig flirts with the Wang Dang Doodle...
They get a pretty good groove going.
Me & My Uncle- Bob would play this song anywhere , anytime, but easy to see why it got relegated to 1st set over time.
Two Souls- This is such a deep and raw tune. Blues in a way that no other dead tune approaches. It is perhaps the opposite of the boastful raps Pig get's into on Good Lovin'
"Somebody please help me find the right way to go"
'The Stranger' Probably got Pig laid in France.
This is a very good version here.
"Alligator man, where are you???"
Sugar Magnolia-with frog effect. Who is getting that sound? What instrument?
I don't hear Donna singing at all for this?
Nice Jam in the Sugar mag...
Sunshine Daydream-Just Weir on vocals.
Somebody banging those keys..
LOSER-One of my favorite tunes,
Good to see it late in the 2nd set
This is not an open ended tune but wow does it cook. "I've got no chance of losing this time"
those are the ultimate words from a fool or gambler's mouth.
"Last fair deal in the country"
And here it is folks, would this show have caused you to forsake it all and head to Europe with the Dead?
I faced the same question in 1990 at the MSG shows and my answer was yes. I put all I had into a Eurail pass, Sold almost all my albums, bought a round trip air line ticket and off I went...
So five f-ing stars for the good ol Grateful Dead.
" Trouble Ahead, Trouble behind
And you know that notion just crossed my mind"
Sat Night- Europe calling!!!!

and therefore I love this show!
No Dark Star or Other One - I don't care, the playing is tight and the songs superb!
Great show - Good Lovin'!
Sounds Excellent!!

I agree with Cliff Hucker below. Fantastic sound and transfer by Sir Charlie Miller, as always. God bless you, Sir. A treat to find such a crispy board of this show, and the LLR rivals any of the finest that would follow in Europe. Yet there's no "meat and potatoes" of this show, and sounds more like the warm-up for Europe (which technically it was) than a performance for the people there than the other Academy of Music shows.

With the sound quality here I'd feel bad for Charlie casting less than four stars, so there it is.

-q

Great rollicking energy in the music and the onstage chatter. The lack of jams doesn't detract from one of the happiest and best Pig Pen shows ever.

Superb sound quality but really not much going on here. No second set jam sequence, hard to give this a high score in spite of the sonic upgrade. How can this garner five stars when it probably doesn't even crack the top fifty shows of 1972?
(92 pts)

Sound quality is incredible...thanks Charlie, you're the man!

Pluck your magic twanger, Jerry :)

This sounds fantastic. Thanks for sharing!

The mix on this is truly amazing...especially Kreutzmann's drums. Really kicks! Thank you...